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The 1% Method I used to Grow FSC 4125% YoY 📈
Where women in ecommerce come to get their key insights, tips and tactics
Hi! I’m Doone, your hype girl in business. This is your weekly source of inspiration & information on all things in the e-commerce and CPG space, read by like-minded Entrepreneurs - that happen to be women - like you. If you find value in this content please like & share above, or forward it to someone in your network. I love it when you do that!
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A Quick Recap on Industry News 🗞
Join the ‘21 Forbes Under 30 Summit for free. Oraan raises $3M to increase financial inclusion among Pakistani women. Asutra’s Stephanie Morimoto wins Entrepreneur of the year award. Loyal raises $27M to give dog owners more time with their pets. Aiming to create a gender-equitable startup landscape?
Resources for Entrepreneurs 👀
I wanted to share some cool things I’ve recently seen that might be useful for you..
Grantify.io is a website making grant funding easy and applicable to you. They’re focusing on women-founded and owned companies right now, and can see you claim back around 70% of the potential R&D spend you’ve done. Crazy.
Innovate UK as part of UK Research and Innovation, is offering at least 20 Women in Innovation Awards to female entrepreneurs across the UK. The winners will receive a £50,000 grant and a bespoke package of mentoring, coaching and business support..
10X Incubator is looking for women with a genius tech idea to help bring it to life. Really cool if you don’t want to do the journey alone, as they essentially act as a co-founder. Drop me a message if this sounds tempting.
🔑 Insights From This Week’s Episodes on the Female Startup Club Podcast
Directly from the women building the world’s most exciting businesses in the e-commerce and CPG space.
1. Partnering for a Win-Win 🏅
EP214: We chat to the Founder (Sarah Moret) behind the DTC brand (Curie) that grew 500% last year through a partnership with SoulCycle & QVC.
Sarah wanted to see people with her products. (Obvs). Having tried all the traditional routes, something wasn’t working. She asked: How can we get creative here, in terms of getting in front of our customers, that isn’t just facebook ads?
Partner Up 👯
Getting Curie in front of customers means getting Curie into their bathrooms. Why not start with the bathrooms that she has access to? In, say… Gyms? Queue, a partnership with the one and only Soul Cycle.
“People get to use it, experience the products, and turn those people into customers. This is so off the beaten path.”
In terms of getting exposure and getting people to try out your products, this is huge. And not just any people. Seeing a big crossover with the customer base between your biz and your partnership is so useful for ensuring that retention.
But c’mon, how do you set this up? 🤔
As many things in business, it all comes back to network. Having a good network is really important as a founder.
I’ve always been good at networking and maintaining relationships. All of those relationships have been huge needle movers for us.
Get out there and prioritize your network, you never know what opportunities pop up.
2. Is Your Foundation This Solid? 💪
EP215: Gen-Z brand Bubble asked 5000 teens what they wanted for a skincare company, and then went out and created exactly that. Shai Eisenman talks us through the approach and specific blueprint.
“We got into this in a different way. We started everything with very extensive research.”
We’re talking: a focus group with 200 teens. Full quantitative research with 900 teens. And a community of 4,600 teens. Phoar.
Everything you ever do in your biz, should start with listening to consumers. Because they know best. This helps you understand the marketing strategy, where to go, what steps to take next.
I know what you’re thinking, where on earth do you find these teens? 🌎
You find them where they hang out, IG! (and Tiktok!) In Shai’s case an IG ad asking teens to become a part of a skincare focus group proved to be the ticket, and lots of people voluntarily joined. From this point ensure you have a community home, such as Geneva in this case, where everyone can hang out in an organised way.
Then, get to business 💻
It doesn’t stop there. Communities need watering. For months, right up until today, Shai talks to them to understand: what are they using? What excites them? What are they passionate about? How are they different from millennials?
Finally, listen 👂
And it’s these answers that will ensure the solid foundation to your business idea.
“We didn’t see stuff coming because we are smart, it’s because we see teens wanting it and then we know we need to be there.”
The 1% Method
How I used the 1% Method to grow Female Startup Club’s podcast 4125% YoY 📈
Let’s talk about the 1% method. If you regularly listen to the podcast, you’ve come across this one before.
The 1% Method = reaping huge rewards from small, seemingly insignificant actions. Doesn’t sound so bad right?
Instead of getting caught up in the mountains ahead of you to reach your goals, the essence is that you just need to focus on that 1%. The compounded effect will leave you looking back down that mountain, wondering how the hell you got there. And I had that moment just last week.
When I set myself the goal of recording 100 episodes in my first year of FSC, I laughed myself out of the room. It seemed so insane. Since that moment, we have grown 4125% YoY. Wow.
What I want you to take away from this? Just give yourself the goal of 1 percent. Say it out loud. Let’s do one percent better. Putting it into your mind, putting it out into the universe. It will become feasible. You will be better off for doing it.
Biz Wins & Failz 🎢
Here are a few crackers straight from Hype Club.
We’ve got an ongoing Biz Wins & Fails chat going in HC. This is where we can learn what we can hopefully avoid in our own journeys, and what keeps us feeling like we are not in this alone. A lot of us are seeing a lot of highlights, but tbh there are also so many downs and things that go wrong.
Kimberly Rubio (launching in the bev industry) had a little frustration to share with us this week:
“It has been two months since filing for our trademark and there has been zero movement. Expected, as they say, 6-9 months these days, but it’s still frustrating.”
Anyone that listened in on the mini-series last week, knows I can relate to this all too well. These beautifully uplifting words from Megan in the HC really stuck with me, and I just had to share:
“It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Even if when things pick up, if you’re not ready for the long haul, you’ll run out of gas before you get to enjoy all the fruits of you labour.”
One of our regular’s, Laura Rubin, shared a valuable win in her journey that’s worth sharing…
“I sampled and sold my teas at 2 markets and got *incredible* feedback. It was so validating and people were asking how they could send more to friends. Sampling really helps! It’s great for customer discovery and better understanding the consumer journey. I must have chatted with over 100 people and now have a clearer idea of how to market my products 💚.
Just a little taste of what we’re creating together and how we learn from eachother on this journey. ✨
*Our pricing is currently $59 per month, cancel anytime. Come join us in Hype Club if you want to build your network and meet other women going through the journey.
Shoutin’ It Out 📢
I want to take a hot sec to tell you about a brand in the Hype Club that is really changing the period product game right now. Fiona Simmonds’ Pinkie.
She’s creating super cute pouches for women and girls to put their pads in. Manufactured in a way to avoid that awkward public bathroom rustle, these pads won’t make any sound. No noise, no leaks, no drama. So important for addressing pain points for teens and tweens out there.
They’re launching soon! So grab yourself a spot on the waitlist and get early access to the first Pinkie pads.
What’s on this week? 👀
Let’s see what we have in store for you this week…
TUES: Michelle Grant from LIVELY - today bra’s & undies, tomorrow the world ✨
THURS: Vanessa Pham from Omsom - proud, loud Asian home cooking 🔥
SAT: Alyssa Wasko from DONNI - easy to wear, hard to take off fashion pieces ♡
Click here to tune in! 🎧
What to Read, What to Listen to 🤔
📚 Untamed by Glennon Doyle: Life-changing. Really. An exploration of the joy and peace we experience when we stop striving to meet others’ expectations.
🎧 Armchair Expert, hosted by Dax Shepard: a podcast that celebrates the messiness of being human. Every Monday and Thursday.
Job Alert Time! 💼
Check out these cool job listings on our radar:
Cali 🌞
Type:A, the smart deodorant brand, is looking for a strong Associate Brand Marketer. DM the founder (Allison Moss) directly for more deets.
Remote 🌎
Canada/Remote 🦫
Three Ships, the coolest indie beauty brand right now, is on the hunt for a full-time Graphic Designer/Video Editor. Check out the job op.
Aus 🐨
PS:
Don’t forget to reply and A) tell me what you would do with that $1000USD CASH I’m giving way and B) apply by clicking here 👋 it ends in a few days and it’s your last chance! The more people you refer, the more chances you have of winning!
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